Liverpool v Man Utd - Sunday 16th December

Necronomicon

I think United deserved it from the defensive displays alone; Ferdinand, Evra, Hargreaves and Anderson were immense, Tevez had an excellent game as well. The man doesn't know when to stop.

There were periods of Liverpool pressure in the second half, but for all the possession they had in the higher end of the pitch, there weren't many clear-cut opportunities. Babel looked the biggest threat when he came on, other than that there weren't many notable performances (as well as some wasted free kicks in great areas).

The day would be complete now if there was a draw at the Emirates.

Pighead

Tusky wrote: »

:rolleyes:
Ronaldo had a dire game. Couple of

Yet he done more in the game than Torres who had an Ok game i n your opinion. Hmmmm, bias much? You do realise dire means worse than ok don't you?

Peyton Manning

Relax now Pighead, Torres gave them the edge that won them the match. Oh wait, Ive just been listening to the media too much.

dc69

Nunu wrote: »

Well, that must have been very depressing for Liverpool fans?

Ferdinand best defender on the pitch.

All our new signings were immense....

Hargreaves > Mascherano

Anderson > Gerrard

Tevez > Torres

Kuyt, Kewell and Riise absolutely muck.

maybe your opinion, i would have gerrard,mashcerano and torres over those 3 if given the choice!in this match hargreaves didnt do better than mashc,and anderson did well but wasnt as good as gerrard,torres didnt even get the ball so tevez was obviously better.I agree with you about kuyt,risse and kewell and also benayoun

Im_No_Superman

Ronaldo had a "dire" game yet should have an assist to his name after a brilliant cross to Rooney who some how managed to miss. He was by no means at his best but he did alright and his pace was always a threat especially towards the end of the game on the counter.

Tusky

Pighead wrote: »

Yet he done more in the game than Torres who had an Ok game i n your opinion. Hmmmm, bias much? You do realise dire means worse than ok don't you?

Well I never spoke about Torres individually, I just said the whole Liverpool team were ok. Torres was disappointing, theres no two ways about it. By Ronaldos standards and considering the form he has been in, I thought he was awful.

Unearthly

I want to marry Evra btw

every man would

kaisersose77

Ye i was thinking Torres was substituted in the second half when I wasnt looking as there was no sign of him. Babel was only person who threatened. Lucky he didnt find the net after Brown messed up. I'd say they'll definitely get a right back in the summer if Neville doesnt return this season.

d22ontour

I think Ronaldo was dire too .That had to be one of/if not the worst performances he has put in for United.You could say the same for Giggs too ,who hasn't done it in a long time for me.

d22ontour

dc69 wrote: »

anderson did well but wasnt as good as gerrard,

:rolleyes:

Anderson was quality today , Gerrard was .... ??

Pighead

Tusky wrote: »

Well I never spoke about Torres individually, I just said the whole Liverpool team were ok. Torres was disappointing, theres no two ways about it. By Ronaldos standards and considering the form he has been in, I thought he was awful.

You said "everyone played ok" in the Liverpool team. Would this not include Torres or is he on another level above "everybody"? You also said Ronaldo was dire. Face it, you were hurting after the feet and took your heartache out on poor innocent Ronaldo. Shame on you Tusky.

Peyton Manning

Do Liverpool fans still consider their team title contenders? Both for this season, and just looking at the squad as a whole? When you consider the fact that youve played the other big 3 - Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd - all at Anfield and only have 2 points to show for it, surely you cant be seen as a realistic threat...

kaisersose77

But thats it, Ronaldo plays crap and ppl defend him saying he got an assist etc. He does well getting goals etc but he still wastes the ball an awful lot in every match. He can do no wrong in some ppl's eyes.

Giggs was crap aswell, doing he usual passing the ball to nobody and then moaning

AdrianII

Ronaldo found out today, he is a great player against crap teams, when it comes to the big matches, all he can do is dive, dive and dive again.

Utd took there chance and won.

mayordenis

absolutely we do,
we'll put together 10 or so wins soon enough and we can see.

Tusky

Pighead wrote: »

You said "everyone played ok" in the Liverpool team. Would this not include Torres or is he on another level above "everybody"? You also said Ronaldo was dire. Face it, you were hurting after the feet and took your heartache out on poor innocent Ronaldo. Shame on you Tusky.

hehe. You seem to be looking for an arguement, youre not going to get it!

Read my post again, does it really seem bias'd ? I praised utds defending and 5 of there players. I praised one Liverpool player. Torres was ok, not great. He was marked out of the game and didnt get much quality supply. Utd also defended against him v.well.

I thought Ronaldo was poor considering a few of the positions he got himself in during the game. A lot of the time he was 1v1 with Riise(who is awful atm) and didnt do much. in the second half with Liverpool pushing lots of men forward I expected Ronaldo to hurt us on the counter.

Tusky wrote: »

Credit to utd for some great defending. Vidic, Ferdinand & Evra all had good games. Anderson & Tevez also impressed. Ronaldo had a dire game. Couple of dives in there as well. VDS had a shocker and it was a pity we couldn't punish.

From our point of view. I think everyone played 'ok' but no one had an outstanding game which was what we needed. A bit of magic from someone and it just never happened. Babel looked great when he came on and could have scored with a great long range shot. Bottom line was that we didnt create enough clear cut chances. 1-0 to utd or a draw would have been a fair result but as I said, credit to utd for their excellent defending.

As optimistic as I usually am I think the premiership title may now be out of reach. Its ok when youre chasing and you need one team to slip up but we are looking for slip ups from Utd, Arsenal & Chelsea as it is. Its still possible but is now very unlikely. Very disappointing.

A Dub in Glasgo

Good win for United especially considering VDS was flapping and a shocking miss from Rooney

Unearthly

kaisersose77 wrote: »

But thats it, Ronaldo plays crap and ppl defend him saying he got an assist etc. He does well getting goals etc but he still wastes the ball an awful lot in every match. He can do no wrong in some ppl's eyes.

He can do no right either with Dunphy and co

Jesus Wept

Archimedes wrote: »

Do Liverpool fans still consider their team title contenders? Both for this season, and just looking at the squad as a whole? When you consider the fact that youve played the other big 3 - Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd - all at Anfield and only have 2 points to show for it, surely you cant be seen as a realistic threat...

To be fair, we were robbed of a win against Chelsea by an astonishing referee decision.

juanveron45

This result today was only another 3 points , liverpool just cant cut it It was just like playing spurs or blackburn the real tests lie in wait when we have to play arsenal and chelsea. They are our real rivals instead of that pool lot who ponder on past glories to make them feel part of the real teams in the premier league. I mean cmon any team with benyuoun and kewell and kuyt shouldnt expect much .Id say the gap between us and them will be another 20 points or so at the end of the season

Tusky

Utd fans living up to their glowing reputations I see! Some of yea are a real credit to the Soccer forum! :rolleyes:

Unearthly

Tusky wrote: »

Utd fans living up to their glowing reputations I see! Some of yea are a real credit to the Soccer forum! :rolleyes:

lol and Liverpool fans would of been much better if Pool won

Savman

Usual mudslinging I see.:rolleyes:

No great performances to speak of, had a cup tie feel to it and not much of a footballing match, silly tackles and yellow cards etc. Tevez did the only thing that matters, put the ball in the back of the net.

There's a long way to go but I wouldn't consider Liverpool as contenders for the Premiership whatever about their exploits in Europe. Its a bad defeat from their point of view, that's 2 on the bounce now???

Tusky

Unearthly wrote: »

lol and Liverpool fans would of been much better if Pool won

Some would, I suppose.

mayordenis

games over guys arsenal chelsea has started well.

d22ontour

Savman wrote: »

There's a long way to go but I wouldn't consider Liverpool as contenders for the Premiership

They are still a threat i feel.It's only a possible 6 point deficit if they win the game in hand.The only thing for United is theres no need to worry about them for the present time with a 9 point cushion.

Aquos76

AdrianII wrote: »

Ronaldo found out today, he is a great player against crap teams, when it comes to the big matches, all he can do is dive, dive and dive again.

Utd took there chance and won.

A bit like Torres so. He was dire today, did he even have a touch of the ball in the second half

Savman

d22ontour wrote: »

They are still a threat i feel.It's only a possible 6 point deficit if they win the game in hand.

It's not primarily the points issue, they just suffer from inconsistency which is the one thing you can't have if you are to win the league.
If not ManU, think I fancy Arsenal.

ParkRunner

:DThe game wasnt much of a spectacle in the end, but that's typical I suppose. I can't understand why Benitez leaves Crouch on the bench and then so many high balls go in..Vidic and Evra were rock solid, Van Der Saar would have been shown up by a poorer defence. It's becoming a 3 points banker now going to Anfield

AdrianII

Aquos76 wrote: »

A bit like Torres so. He was dire today, did he even have a touch of the ball in the second half

I take it you didnt see the chelsea match so :rolleyes:

astrofool

Tusky wrote: »

Utd fans living up to their glowing reputations I see! Some of yea are a real credit to the Soccer forum! :rolleyes:

Just had a look through again, and can't see much wrong with what they're saying, care to elaborate a little? Multi-quote maybe?

Match was very tense, amazing that one goal won it, but Liverpool were very poor up front, limited to two blunders by VDS, and a bunch of long range shots that never threatened (babel going closest).

United did what they needed to do, no point going to Liverpool and trying to play flowing football, they squeeze that out of the game, so stick to the basics, defend well, and play your set pieces right. Ferguson seems to have zonal marking worked out well, a lot of the goals in the last few matches have been from set pieces, today, O'Shea, Ferdinand.

d22ontour

Savman wrote: »

It's not primarily the points issue, they just suffer from inconsistency which is the one thing you can't have if you are to win the league.
If not ManU, think I fancy Arsenal.

Inconsistency has always been a problem for them but this season they seem to have coped a bit better.I see Chelski as more of a threat and wouldn't rule them out either.

IrishMike

juanveron45 wrote: »

This result today was only another 3 points , liverpool just cant cut it It was just like playing spurs or blackburn the real tests lie in wait when we have to play arsenal and chelsea. They are our real rivals instead of that pool lot who ponder on past glories to make them feel part of the real teams in the premier league. I mean cmon any team with benyuoun and kewell and kuyt shouldnt expect much .Id say the gap between us and them will be another 20 points or so at the end of the season

Stop trolling you clown

IrishMike

Liverpool today badly missed alonso.
They have no player in the midfield who would take the ball off of hyppia
and carragher and spray it around to start an attack.
Instead Hyppia spent half the match pushing up trying to find a pass or
more often than not lumping it forward.
Pretty poor performance from Gerrard today.
Remember reading some guy in this thread saying how worthless Gerrard
is and how wasteful he is. The thing with Gerrard is that when he is in
the final third he is able to find that decisive through ball or take a
great shot. He is not comfortable spending the match on the half way
line passing the ball and controlling a game. Thats just not his game,
same is true of fat frank at chelsea. They are game winners though
and their amount of goals/assists means that a team should be adapted
to accomodate them. That means alonso and mascherano in midfield
controlling the ball and letting Gerrard do what he does best and that
is making chances and winning the game (more often than not).

Thought mascherano look very slow at times with the ball at his feet
and got caught more often than not by anderson.
Thought kewell was non existant and risse was there for the taking
had ronaldo showed up at all (which he didnt)
Also VDS looked extremely shaky which is most unlike him.

On another note i cant understand how Rio got man of the match
For me Anderson was the best player on the pitch, he was everywhere.
He can be a little negative with the ball but is always looking for it and loves a tackle.
Quality quality player.

Uniteds defence won them this game.
They got a slice of luck for the goal but luck normally comes with hard work as Rafa said last week.
The match should probably have been a draw but that would not have been enough for Liverpool.
This should have been all 3 points if they were to pose any threat of winning the league.

lordgoat

Anderson wsa man of the match in my opinion, Hargreaves was immense as well and with United's defence liverpool had nothing going forward. I think Babel was the best liverpool player.

Yes Ronaldo was quiet for man utd, but overall i think united were more cutting and had a bit more creativity which is what you need to win these types of game.

You could say the got a bit lucky with the goal keeping errors but the secondary defending by anderson and evra both times was what you expect.

Liverpool turn off for a second don't pick up a smart corner and it's lost them the game.

quad_red

AdrianII wrote: »

Ronaldo found out today, he is a great player against crap teams, when it comes to the big matches, all he can do is dive, dive and dive again.

Utd took there chance and won.

Had this conversation in the pub earlier. I don't buy the 'best player in the world' line that is peddled by skysports etc. It is rubbish. He is no way up the standard of someone like Kaka.

And yeah (let's call a spade a spade here), he dives. But he is getting better and he IS fouled allot. And witnessing Evra's booking, those in glass houses.

Today he was quiet enough in the first half but 'found out'?

He absolutely skinned two/three defenders with a sublime touch and set up Rooney for what should've been the second goal. And his pace and threat forced Liverpool to keep a few defenders back at the end.

Aquos76

AdrianII wrote: »

I take it you didnt see the chelsea match so :rolleyes:

And likewise you the Man U/Arsenal match

Pighead

Tusky wrote: »

hehe. You seem to be looking for an arguement, youre not going to get it!

Read my post again, does it really seem bias'd ? I praised utds defending and 5 of there players. I praised one Liverpool player. Torres was ok, not great. He was marked out of the game and didnt get much quality supply. Utd also defended against him v.well.

I thought Ronaldo was poor considering a few of the positions he got himself in during the game. A lot of the time he was 1v1 with Riise(who is awful atm) and didnt do much. in the second half with Liverpool pushing lots of men forward I expected Ronaldo to hurt us on the counter.

Tusky, the crux of your post alluded to the fact that Ronaldo had a shocker today. It is indeed fair to say that he played poorly today but surely you must agree that Torres played worse? He did nothing today and he was playing for the home side who were doing the majority of the attacking.

Ronaldo was playing for the away side who were defending defending defending and booting the ball out of play for the most part. Of course he wasn't gonna shine. If that game were at Old Trafford I would have said "What a load of fcuking pants" but it was at Anfield so a bit of leeway is allowed re Ronaldos performance.

Honestly if I had just come from Planet Venus and watched that game today without prior knowledge of any of their players or their reputations and were forced to pick out the 4 best attackers of the game I'd pick out Tevez, Babel, Ronaldo and Kewell/Ronaldo.

Ronaldo caught the eye with the fantastic first touch/beautiful ball for Rooney in the 2nd half as well as a decent shot in the 1st half which Carragher handled. Tevez scored the goal and looked lively, Kewell done ok I thought and Rooney the same. Torres, one header he should have got closer to the target and fcuk all else.

To sum up if you think Ronaldo was dire then you have to admit Torres was, a word worse than dire.

Now lets get back to the 2nd half of this Arsenal Chelsea game.

quad_red

Tusky wrote: »

Utd fans living up to their glowing reputations I see! Some of yea are a real credit to the Soccer forum! :rolleyes:

Y'see, that's textbook trolling, right there.

lordgoat

Aquos76 wrote: »

And likewise you the Man U/Arsenal match

zing!

AdrianII

Suprised you saw that game, i though man utd fans only come out when they win

Unearthly

AdrianII wrote: »

Suprised you saw that game, i though man utd fans only come out when they win

Watch it

Toys can hurt

Dave!

AdrianII wrote: »

Ronaldo found out today, he is a great player against crap teams, when it comes to the big matches, all he can do is dive, dive and dive again.

Didn't do too badly against Arsenal. A poor performance overall yet he still got a goal and an assist in a 2-2 draw. Woulda thought that was a "big match".

AdrianII

DaveMcG wrote: »

Didn't do too badly against Arsenal. A poor performance overall yet he still got a goal and an assist in a 2-2 draw. Woulda thought that was a "big match".

Fair point, you you think he is up there with the likes of messi and kaka though

madds

Terrible game to watch, great result for Utd, with Rio just shading it for MOTM over Evra IMO. Hargreaves and Tevez also impressive. Good tactical change from SAF towards the end when he brought Carrick on for Anderson. Allowed Hargreaves to drop back and pick up Babel who was making a nuisance of himself in the hole.

Ronaldo showed some nice touches at times but more often than not looked for contact and went to ground. Anyone can have a bad game, but what I can't stand is seeing a player, in a game as big as this, jumping out of challenges. Reminded me of some of Cantona's European performances when Eric would often hide when the going got tough.

Great noise made by the away support too btw.

DSB

AdrianII wrote: »

Fair point, you you think he is up there with the likes of messi and kaka though

Not quite there but not a million miles off either.

Dave!

AdrianII wrote: »

Fair point, you you think he is up there with the likes of messi and kaka though

No I don't think he is, but then I never said he is, either.

This is despite the fact that he has more league goals than them this season BTW...

Xavi6

Dirk Kuyt. Good lord he is woeful. Easily the worst player on show today. Runs around like a headless chicken, has no touch, is predictable on the ball and above all never looks like scoring. Vidic and Ferdinand were always going to have a field day with him and as a result I felt that Torres suffered from the extra workload.

Liverpool won't win the title this year, or any year for the forseeable future, no matter how much the fans cling onto that shred of hope. They simply aren't good enough in big games like this. I honestly couldn't see United losing.

NotWormBoy

Well that was disappointing to say the least. Losing to Man United always leaves a sick feeling in the stomach - but during the 90's and early 00's, it was clear that they outclassed us so it was easier to take. Today's game could've gone either way. Up until the goal by Tevez that is. Fair dues to United for taking the goal when it came - even though it was shocking defending by Liverpool it was still a well taken goal. And after that United's defence was absolutely excellent and Liverpool's attack more or less ineffectual. And thats where we suffered. Gerrard anonymous, Mascherano wasteful, Kuyt/Riise terrible, Torres got no ball in the second half. I'd personally have had Babel, Crouch and Lucas on for Benayoun, Kuyt and Riise myself - at half time (before the second half I said this).

On United's side I though Evra was very good after his yellow card - couple of challenges he had to time perfectly or get sent off, Vidic and Ferdinand (as much as I hate the lad) were excellent, Anderson was MOM for me he was all over the place.

Very disappointed in Liverpool's performance - we were simply outtacticked by United today - and outclassed, sadly. And we're going to find it very very hard to mount a title challenge after this.

JæKæ

Tusky wrote: »

On current form, I think these players have the edge over their utd counterparts. Anyone agree/disagree ?

---

x----Torres

Kewell---Mascherano--Gerrard---x


x

---

x

---

(too close)--Arbeloa

---

(too close)

Couldnt decide between Reina & VDS or Carragher & Vidic.

Laughable